jacket potatoes and measure for measure.

my day from 9 - 5 wasn't particularly interesting as I was in class. however, i grabbed lunch with a couple people form my European Union politics class at the University of London Union (ULU). It's basically the college's student center and NYU in London students have access to it. membership matters only after a certain hour when the whole building turns into a members only club/pub scene. i tried a filled "jacket potato" for lunch for the first time today. it's basically a fancy name for a baked potato with different fillings/toppings. I had mine with cheese. it was decent, but next time i'll try something with more flavor and something less.....cheesy. BUT! it's super filling and it's only £1.70 which is cheaper than a small coffee here. i know we have baked potatoes in the states, but i guess what makes the "jacket potato" british are the toppings. they have potato with either chilli, tuna, cottage cheese, new york deli (?), and list goes on and on. my friend got the tuna filling and it looked yummmy.

so while at lunch, we discussed our european adventures so far and those planned in the future. turns out, all three of us were in paris on the same weekend at the end of january. people have hit up barcelona, stockholm, amsterdam, dublin and many more cities were on their "must visit" list and this got me thinking of my travel plans for the future. so, i just finished booking my trip to Dublin for the first weekend of march. then, i'm thinking of going to brussels for the second weekend with my friend in the EU class, which is particularly pertinent as brussels is where most of the EU institutions are based.

then after my Shakespeare class got out at 5, a friend from that class and I came back to Nido (the student housing building that i'm living in) and cooked dinner together. (side note: after 6 weeks in london, today was the first time I used my pot. I've been living off pita+hummus, selfmade ciabatta sandwiches, cereals, and.....mangoes) while cooking, we watched curling, as that seems to be the only winter olympic sport aired in Great Britain. it's either that or ski jumping. according to my eu professor, this is because curling seems to be the only winter olympic sport that great britain is decent at. what i noticed is that female curlers (?) are constantly screaming during the game, whereas the men are quiet. i often joked about the legitimacy of curling as a sport because I was curious as to what kind of physical conditioning goes into ....sweeping? however, while watching for the past couple of days, i've realized that an incredible amount of strategizing goes into the sport, probably far more than I can ever comprehend. then, after admiring the curler's cool gliding shoes, we went to go watch a production of Shakespeare's Measure for Measure for class.

we walked about half an hour eat to an area called Angel or Islington to the Almeida Theatre. nestled into a side street, it seemed like a fancy local theatre. nothing too exuberant, but also not unnoticeable. Measure for Measure is the play that we've been discussing in class for the past two weeks so i was very excited to see it on stage. I was particularly interested in this play because I hadn't read it before this class, so I wasn't as used to it. What we've been discussing in class is how Measure for Measure is a "problem play." It's not as blissful as typical Shakespeare comedies, but it's not permeated with death like his tragedies either. It deals with what seemed to me very "real" issues that could pertain to any society, elizabethan or contemporary. prostitution. religion. law. power. hypocrisy. all that good stuff.

The production was excellent. the casting, chemistry and the humor all seemed to work. however, my favorite part was the set. initially, it seemed very minimalist, like a very simple black box. however, after the first scene, the wall split into two segments and swiveled around to create a totally different setting. those two walls were manipulated to create an indoor room, a prison, a sketchy back street, and an outdoor court. very very cool. what's also cool was that it didn't have a happy ending like it usually does. but i'll say no more, or else i'll ruin the play for those of you who haven't read it.

http://www.almeida.co.uk/production_details/production_details.aspx?code=90

with waiting for godot, and all the shakespeare productions I'm going to during the semester, I'll be taking full advantage of London's threatre scene, much more than i ever expected to. perhaps this will inspire me to do the same when i go back to nyc.

brilliant british-isms i heard at the theatre.

1. I showed my ticket to the usher, and she super enthusiastically said "that's lovely!!" (...what is?)

2. people sitting next to me had to pass by me in order to exit to the aisle. and as I moved out of their way for them, instead of thank you, they said "cheers"

3. short and sweet conversation.

"cheers," said the young student.

"pleasure," responded his chaperon.

(rough translation. "thank you," "you're welcome")